With the premiere date for the highly anticipated live-action Wicked film quickly approaching, a brand new featurette and poster for the upcoming Wicked film has just been released.
On the poster, leading actresses Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo can be seen holding hands and gazing into each other’s eyes, with Oz and Shiz University in the background.
Both actresses are fully dressed in their iconic costumes, with Grande in her sparkling pink gown as Galinda Upland, a popular young woman who later becomes Glinda the Good.
And then there’s Cynthia Erivo in her evil garb, for her role as Elphaba Thropp, a misunderstood green-skinned young woman who later becomes the Wicked Witch of the West.
In the new video teaser, the two stars, along with director Jon M. Chu and co-star Jonathan Bailey, discuss the bond between the characters and the power of friendship, and show more footage from the highly anticipated movie musical.
The promotional campaign for the live-action film adaptation of Wicked continued with the release of a new poster featuring stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo holding hands and gazing into each other’s eyes, with Oz and Shiz University in the background
“Wicked, for me, is about friendship at its core,” Chu, 44, explains. “And it starts off as a really fun look at how these two young women are so different from each other, forced to be roommates and can’t get along at all.”
“And so we have to get to know each other in order to get to know each other,” Erivo adds in the storyline.
“These two very different women just completely fall in love with each other,” the 31-year-old Thank U, Next star adds. “And that’s a reflection of what happened with Cynthia and I.”
Erivo chimes in: ‘We just kind of… I got goosebumps. We just found each other, I guess… We just found each other right away.’
“We clicked straight away,” the 37-year-old British actress said of their bond as women and their incredible on-screen chemistry.
“There’s a wild soul connection between the two of them, which creates great chemistry, but they’re also so different,” co-star Jonathan Bailey, 36, said of the two stars’ relationship.
Following the release of the new promos, some fans are speculating that one of the original stars of the Wicked stage play will appear in the new live-action film version.
The star in question is Kristin Chenoweth, who played Glinda in the very first stage adaptation of the story at the George Gershwin Theatre in 2003-2004.
The promotional campaign also included a new featurette featuring the stars in scenes from the film, with Erivo and Grande talking about their incredible chemistry on and off screen.
“Wicked, for me, is about friendship at its core,” explains director Jon M. Chu, 44. “And it starts off as a really fun look at how these two young women are so different from each other, forced to be roommates and can’t get along at all.”
Those curious fans think they spotted Chenoweth’s signature blonde locks right behind Grande, who’s standing at an angle chatting with her co-star.
While the character in question isn’t clearly visible in the photo or clip, they suspect it’s the Broadway legend who has her hair in an intricate updo.
The scene in question appears in the featurette around 1:54.
If Chenoweth does indeed appear in the upcoming Wicked film, the question arises whether actress Idina Menzel, who played Elphaba, will also make a cameo.
In addition to Eviro and Grande, the cast also includes Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James, Keala Settle, Peter Dinklage, Aaron Teoh, Grecia de la Paz, Colin Michael Carmichael, Adam James and Andy Nyman.
The film is about the unlikely friendship that develops between Elphaba and Glinda, two clashing witches in the magical land of Oz.
If Chenoweth is indeed in the film, the question arises whether Idina Menzel, who originally played the role of Elphaba, will also make a cameo; the two Broadway stars will appear at the George Gershwin Theatre in New York City in October 2003
Some fans are convinced they spotted Kristin Chenoweth, who played Glinda in the first-ever stage adaptation of the story at the George Gershwin Theatre in 2003-2004, in the background of a scene, just behind Grande, captured at 1:54 of the new featurette.
Elphaba is wrongly portrayed as an evil witch, when she sets out to expose the fraudulent, corrupt wizard who rules the land.
Wicked is the primal story of ‘a green-skinned woman who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West.’
It is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz and explores the story before the arrival of Dorothy, as well as the former friendship between the characters Elphaba and Glinda.
Wicked will be released on November 27, with a direct sequel, Wicked Part Two, following a year later.